We all loved the game 'Heads Down, Thumbs Up' as kids. Or 'Seven up' as it is called in the USA. This simple game is still a favourite with students today. A way to incorporate learning into this classic game was suggested to me today by some university colleagues.
You run the game the normal way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Up_(game)
The difference is that the students selected to be the taggers who walk around pushing players thumbs down hold up signs and the players tagged guess who tagged them by referring to the sign. For example in a game for young students the signs might contain sight words, like 'it' or 'the.' If student A was a tagger holding up 'the' then the tagged students would say, 'I think 'the' tagged me.' The teacher would ask,"give an example of the word 'the' in a sentence"... If the student is able to give an example and if they guess the correct tagger they become a tagger.
The game can be used with older students in units of work when they are working with concepts. For example in a unit of work on the government the word 'democracy' might be a sign. Students would explain the concept, such as democracy, held by the person who tagged them.
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